It was in a church sanctuary where vocalist and guitarist Andy Pena and bassist Devin Garcia shunned the usual reasons to break teen curfews to write the quartet's first songs in the wee hours of the morning. Credit the holy architecture or the need to deal with circumstances, Dignan was a reality.

The band eventually added non-Texan Heidi Plueger, of Portland, OR on keys and backing vocals, and former merch boy Davy Palomino as Dignan's multi-instrument, playing accordion, keys, percussion, trumpet and background vocals. The addition of Heidi and Davy rounded out the band's unique and impassioned sound which lands somewhere between the earnesty of Fleet Foxes and the bombastic pop of Cursive.

"This is our community. This is how we show love," says Pena, cofounder and songwriter.

Dignan's "community", however, has since spread across the nation via extensive touring and appearances at prestigious festivals such as CMJ (New York), SXSW (Austin), DFest (Tulsa), Next Big Nashville, and Cornerstone (Illinois) playing to thousands, furthering building their fanbase and proving why they are one of the best unsigned bands in the South.  The band has also shared stages with Cursive, Colour Revolt, Plain White T's and Ra Ra Riot, as well as receiving favorable reviews and write-ups from prominent publications such as Spin, Paste and Relevant.

The band released five-song EP 'The Guest' in 2007, followed by the superb  iTunes-only 'Tangled Woods' EP in 2008 and their debut full length 'Cheaters & Thieves' in 2009.  Through little more than word of mouth and a lot of miles on the road, Dignan's self-recorded and self-released works combined to over 6k in downloads and sales.  The band is well into writing a new full-length album to be released summer 2011 and is setting out on their 11th US tour which will take them to the Midwest and East Coast and beyond.